"We are thrilled to be working with Frank Gehry, one of the most renowned architects in the world. With his extraordinary vision, the new performing arts center will soar like the dancers that will appear on our stage."

Performing Arts Center

In addition to the Memorial Museum, the cultural component of the new World Trade Center (WTC) will include a 1,000-seat performing arts center at the northwest corner of Fulton and Greenwich Streets. In March 2007, the city announced that the Joyce Theater will be the sole occupant of the Performing Arts Center, to be designed by Frank Gehry. The venue will be separated at grade from 1 WTC by 60 feet.

Although the modern dance-focused Joyce Theater will have the performing arts center to itself, the building may occasionally be used for non-dance events, such as the Tribeca Film Festival, which takes place each spring.

Funding details for the project have yet to be worked out, and construction cannot start because the site will be occupied until then by a temporary exit from the PATH train. The city plans to work with the state and other parties to develop a plan for the site, with an ideal total price tag of less than $500 million. Original estimates for the center's costs were about $700 million.

In June 2004, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and its city and state partners offered space on the site to the Joyce along with three other cultural institutions - the International Freedom Center (IFC), the Signature Theatre, and the Drawing Center. In August 2005, the LMDC announced that the Drawing Center would explore other downtown locations as alternatives to the WTC site in response to controversy surrounding the cultural complex. A month later, then-Governor George Pataki announced that the IFC would not have a place at the cultural center planned for the WTC site, saying that the events of 9/11 should be the sole focus of whatever cultural institution finds a home there. In March 2007, the city announced that the Signature Theatre, an Off-Broadway theater on West 42nd Street, would not move into the WTC center due to logistical issues.

In October 2010, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board voted to approve an allocation of $100 million to develop the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center site. Read more.